Death comes to us all, eventually. The latest trend in youth fiction is to stare it in the face - then jab it in the eye. Mean girls and jocks usually come armed with more than a sharp tongue and a wet towel - and failing a test can be lethal.
Time for a new list of fiction for teens that takes the reader to dark places, and out the other side. Fans of
The Hunger Games, rejoice!
Black Helicopters - Blythe Woolston
The recent kidnapping and hostage drama involving a small boy in Alabama shows just how dangerous anti-Government extremists can be. What if you were brought up by one? Meet Valkyrie White. She's fifteen. Her whole life, she's hidden in an underground den with her brother Bo while Da is working, because Those People will kill them like coyotes. But now, with Da unexpectedly gone and no home to return to, Valkyrie and her big brother must bring their message to the outside world. They're stupid out there - little boys wear their names on their backpacks and people don't pat down strangers before offering a lift. Valkyrie and Bo are going to wake them all up...Or will
they be the ones to wake up? Explosions are promised.
City of a Thousand Dolls - Miriam Forster
Nisha was abandoned at the gates of the City of a Thousand Dolls when she was just a child. Now sixteen, she lives on the grounds of the isolated estate, where orphan girls train as musicians, healers, courtesans, and, if the rumors are true, assassins. Nisha makes her way as Matron’s assistant, her closest companions the mysterious cats that trail her shadow. Only when she begins a forbidden flirtation with the city’s handsome young courier does she let herself imagine a life outside the walls. Until one by one, girls around her start to die. Before she becomes the next victim, Nisha decides to uncover the secrets that surround the girls’ deaths. And may end up paying with her own life.
The Infects - Sean Beaudoin
Seventeen-year-old Nero is stuck in the wilderness with a bunch of other juvenile delinquents on an "Inward Trek." As if that weren't bad enough, his counsellors have turned into flesh-eating maniacs overnight and are now chowing down on his fellow miscreants. These kids have seen zombie movies. They know the rules. Unfortunately, knowing the rules isn't going to be enough.
Freakling - Lana Krumwiede
In twelve-year-old Taemon's city, everyone has a power called psi -- the ability to move and manipulate objects with their minds. When Taemon loses his psi in a traumatic accident, he must hide his lack of power by any means possible. But a humiliating incident at a sports tournament exposes his disability, and Taemon is exiled to the "dud farm". It's not what Taemon expected, though: people are kind and open, and they actually seem to enjoy using their hands to work and play and even comfort their children. But gradually he discovers that there are mysteries, too -- dangerous secrets that would give unchecked power to psi wielders if discovered. When Taemon unwittingly leaks one of these secrets, will he have the courage to repair the damage?
The Farm - Emily McKay
For Lily and her twin sister Mel there is only the Farm...It's a prison, a blood bank, a death camp - where fear and paranoia rule. But it's also home, of sorts. Because beyond the electric fence awaits a fate much, much worse. But Lily has a plan. She and Mel are going to escape - into the ravaged land outside, a place of freedom and chaos and horrors. Except Lily hasn't reckoned on two things: first, her sister's ability to control the horrors; and, secondly, on those out there who desperately want to find and control Mel. Mel's growing power might save the world, or utterly end it. But only Lily can protect Mel from what is to come...
Shards and Ashes
Powerful original dystopian tales from nine bestselling authors offer bleak insight, prophetic visions, and precious glimmers of light among the shards and ashes of a ruined world. Stories from: Kelley Armstrong, Rachel Caine, Kami Garcia, Nancy Holder, Melissa Marr, Beth Revis, Veronica Roth, Carrie Ryan and Margaret Stohl.
The Disappeared - C. J. Harper
In a future where children are segregated into institutions that range from comfortable “Learning Communities” to prison-like “Local Academies”, seventeen-year-old Jackson is an academic high flyer, living in a top Learning Community and destined for a position in the Leadership. But when he and his best friend Wilson are sent to deliver a package to a factory block, they are attacked, leaving Wilson dead. And now Jackson's teachers claim not to know him. Sent to an Academy set up to train factory workers, Jackson finds himself immersed in a world that couldn’t be further removed than the life he’s used to; where the students have created their own hierarchy based on fighting ability. He starts to realise that his whole life has been based on half-truths. In order to survive, he needs to expose the lies that surround the Academy and find out the truth about who he really is.
When We Wake - Karen Healey
Dystopian fiction by a Kiwi author. Sixteen year old Tegan was loving life: she was joining her friends to protest the wrongs of the world, she was playing guitar, and she thought she might be falling in love. She didn't plan on the best day of her life being her last. When Tegan wakes, a hundred years in the future, locked in a government facility, she has no idea what happened. The first person to be cryonically frozen and sucessfully revived, she is an instant celebrity - but all she wants is to rebuild some semblance of a normal life in this strange new future. When appalling secrets come to light, Tegan must make a choice: should she keep her head down and survive, or fight for a better future?
Revolution 19 - Gregg Rosenblum
Twenty years ago, the robots designed to fight our wars turned their weapons on us. Nick has spent his whole life in a community in the wilderness, hiding out from the robots that have enslaved mankind. But when the bots discover the community's location, he, his tech-geek younger brother, Kevin, and adopted sister, Cass, barely make it out alive--only to discover that their home has been destroyed and everyone they love is missing. All survivors were captured and taken to one of the robots' Cities. Determined to find out if their parents are among the survivors, Nick, Kevin, and Cass venture into the heart of the City. As they live among the bots for the first time, they realize they're fighting for more than just their family. The robots have ruled for too long, and now it's time for a revolution.
If you like this one, I recommend the Tripods trilogy by John Christopher - a classic.
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